


Even Heroes Have Heroes

by ShadeOps21



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Ending to a fanfic, Angst, F/M, GIGN, Hostage Situation, Kidnapping, Special Forces, Violence typical of a hostage rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:28:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21609826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeOps21/pseuds/ShadeOps21
Summary: Punished, humiliated, tortured, for being heroes, all broadcasted for the world to see. Marinette and Adrien's hope for a rescue starts to fade as the realisation that they might not ever see the light of day sets in.But even superheroes have heroes watching out for them, ready to swoop in and save their day.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 24
Kudos: 274





	Even Heroes Have Heroes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [P_Artsypants](https://archiveofourown.org/users/P_Artsypants/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Longest Night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19855210) by [P_Artsypants](https://archiveofourown.org/users/P_Artsypants/pseuds/P_Artsypants). 



> So this began as an offshoot idea based on a couple of comments/reviews I'd made about certain things, and it inspired me to write this little piece to show how things might've ended if there was a little more realism involved (well, as realistic as a show about magic monsters and teenage superheroes can be)
> 
> I do want to preface this by saying that the author of the original work, P_Artsypants, has given me 100% blessing and approval to write this, and they have even acted as a 'beta' for the core content to help me stay true to their own work. Some creative liberties have been taken of course, but they were necessary for this story to make sense.
> 
> P_Artsypants, thank you again for allowing me to write and upload this! I really appreciate your input and insight!

_ (The following takes place immediately after ‘Day 32’ in Chapter 19 of Longest Night) _

It had been a month since the last time that Detective Bertony returned to the mansion. What was different than last time, however, were the two masked men that accompanied him. Both men wore navy blue uniforms with round white patches that read  _ ‘ _ NATIONAL GENDARMERIE’ on the border, a silver parachute resting over a blue background in the centre. Both men also wore black balaclavas that concealed all of their face barring their eyes and noses from view.

“Detective,” Gabriel greeted him evenly with a firm handshake, then looked over to the two newcomers, “Who might these men be?”

“Our golden ticket,” Bertony answered with a smile, gesturing the group to proceed deeper into the mansion and out of the foyer. “Shortly after that first stream went live, a team from the Research and Intervention Brigade of the National Police raided a condemned warehouse out in Montparnasse, uncovering what turned out to be a major server network relay used by Salo and her organisation. Now, while the communications and traffic going through the server is being routed through a number of VPNs, we  _ have _ been able to begin tracing them back with assistance from the DGSI - France’s internal security agency, kind of like a mix of the FBI and CIA. They have specialist teams for cyber security, counter-terrorism, and counter-espionage.”

“And what does that mean?” Sabine asked, the multiple initialisms leaving her mildly confused.

“It means that ever since their cyber-sleuths got their hands on the server hub, they’ve been working around the clock to trace back and get a location for these men,” Bertony said, gesturing to the two masked men beside him, “to launch an operation to rescue Marinette and Adrien, and capture Salo and her team.”

“Which brings me to my earlier question, Detective,” Gabriel spoke up, “who exactly are these men?”

“As much as I’d like to introduce my partner and I,” the first man spoke up with a deep, gravelly voice, “we aren’t exactly at liberty to give you our names. For the sake of having a name though, you can call me Faucon and my partner Sabre.”

“Faucon and Sabre are senior officers from the National Gendarmerie’s Intervention Group, colloquially known as the ‘GIGN’. France’s leading counter-terrorism and hostage rescue group.” Bertony explained, stealing a glance at the two men by his side. “There is no other group as qualified and as specially trained as theirs in our country.”

“GIGN were activated once we learned the time sensitive and high risk nature of the situation, and we’ve been liaising with both Europol and our partners in the DGSI with regards to intelligence on where your children might be held,” ‘Faucon’ spoke up once more. “Once we know more about where they are, how they’re being held, and their captor’s movements, then we can start formulating a plan for a rescue.”

Bertony’s phone started to ring loudly from his pocket, and he excused himself to step off to the side of the room and answer it. Sabine, Tom, and Gabriel all turned their attention back to the two GIGN officers before them. “So,” Tom said, breaking the tense silence, “How do these situations normally… well, you know…”

“In the unit’s history, we’ve never lost a hostage as a result of our actions,” Sabre was the one that answered, his voice a little lighter and younger sounding than Faucon’s, “Now, I’ll admit that there are instances where hostages have been injured whenever we’ve made entry, as was the case with Air France all those years ago. There is a high risk that they may sustain injuries that have the potential to be life threatening, but all of our officers are trained in combat first aid, and we also have a designated combat paramedic as part of the entry teams.” He stepped up and rested a reassuring hand on each of Sabine and Tom’s shoulders. “So rest assured, if either of your children are injured as a result of our rescue, medical assistance will be immediately available.”

“And what of their captors? This Salo and her gang of criminals?” Gabriel asked, stealing a glance over to Bertony as he continued his hushed telephone conversation.

Both the officers looked at each other, a wordless conversation exchanged if their eyebrows and subtle expressions through their balaclavas were any indication, before Sabre answered, “Well… much like any police group, we’re a  _ life-saving _ organisation, not a  _ life-taking _ one. That said… we have our rules of engagement, and the priority of life is such that hostages and civilians take priority over our own.”

Tom was about to press further but was stopped as Bertony returned to the group with his phone in his hand, wearing a confident smile, “I have good news. When Salo put up that message on the Ladyblog calling out for Hawkmoth to reach out almost a month ago, she made a mistake. Whoever breached the website and locked the webmaster out left a backdoor for them to use for future contact. Normally, these backdoors are one way, and a regular cyber security expert would struggle getting through the door to get on the other side,” Bertony said, using his hands to mimic a locked door and someone trying to get through, “however, that team at the DGSI have, in effect, flipped the door around, granting them access to the network that breached the site. Through that, they traced the source of the attack back and compared it with intelligence gained from that network hub the BRI seized earlier. We’ve got their location.”

Tom, Sabine, and Gabriel felt a set of emotions flood into them; a weird conflicting mix of relief, anxiety, worry, and hope. Bertony looked over to the two GIGN officers and nodded, “The DGSI liaisons are handing over their analysis of the target site to your own teams as we speak, how soon can we expect a raid?”

“Once we know the site, its layout, and have a preliminary reconnaissance conducted by a BRI team, we might have both hostages in our care within the next three days,” Faucon answered, “though we’ll be staged for immediate action within the next twelve.”

“Where are they?” Sabine pleaded, grabbing onto Bertony’s sleeve with a firm grasp.

“They’re within Paris, that much I can tell you. We cannot risk anyone else know outside of those critical to the coming rescue attempt.” The detective answered. “Gentlemen, I think we have a long briefing to prepare. If you’ll excuse us?”

“Please,” Tom said softly, stopping one of the officers with a gentle grip on his shoulder, “Bring our children back safe.”

“We’ll do our best,” Sabre answered with a reassuring nod.

* * *

_ Six hours later… _

The conference room the Le Grand Paris hotel was cleared out and cordoned off from the public eye, with fairly well armed police officers acting as security for the building in general. Inside the conference room, a long series of tables and desks were pushed together with a large collection of men and women all seated around. At the head,near the projector sat Detective Bertony.

Along one side sat twelve members of Paris’ elite GIGN, all dressed in their navy blue uniforms, black balaclavas and black armoured vests. Their weapons, an assortment of short barreled rifles and submachine guns, rested on racks up the back wall of the room. This group was tasked as the primary entry team, though they resembled only a fraction of the contingent of commandos dispatched to the city for this situation. Another twenty specially trained officers were split up into small teams and stationed near the three separate entry points to where Marinette and Adrien were held, standing by as part of their ‘immediate action’ plan.

Along the other side of the table sat men and women from a mixture of the other agencies involved in the rescue effort: EUROPOL, National Police, National Gendarmerie, and the General Directorate for Internal Security or DGSI. Members of each agency had played crucial roles in coming together to resolve the ongoing crisis.

EUROPOL had brought in the intelligence on their suspects, the National Police and their specialist BRI teams had proved valuable in gaining intelligence and seizing the network hub whilst also working security for the task group, the DGSI’s counter-espionage and cybercrime divisions allowed them to finally track down where Salo had holed up, allowing the National Gendarmerie and the GIGN with their experience and expertise in hostage rescue to finally stage up and begin a rescue attempt for Paris’ own heroes.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Bertony saw moments like these, where  _ everyone _ worked together to achieve a common goal for the greater good as inspiring.

He saw that everyone was settling down, and took the sign as the moment to commence the briefing. Standing up, he found that he didn’t need to clear his throat or do anything to capture the group’s attention; the mere act of standing was enough.

“Thank you everyone for gathering tonight, I don’t think it needs to be said but I do really appreciate everyone’s efforts in getting to this point. I will try to make this quick, but if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to speak up and make them known.”

The lights in the room dimmed and the projector came to life, displaying a large diagrammatic map on the wall behind Bertony, “Thanks to the combined efforts of BRI and DGSI Cyber, we’ve managed to trace back the location of Salo’s hideout to this underground bunker underneath the Gare de l'Est train station. From what we’ve been able to uncover, this bunker was utilised by Nazi forces during their occupation in the Second World War. We don’t know how Salo gained access to it, but she has claimed it as her hideout and holding area for our priority targets.”

The projector switched from a map to a pair of profiles, “Speaking of which, these are our primary objectives. Two civilian hostages, one seventeen year female named Marinette Dupain-Cheng and one eighteen year old male named Adrien Agreste. We don’t know where exactly within the bunker they are being held, but it is clear through their appearances in the live streams that have been broadcast that their physical health is deteriorating, not to speak of their mental and psychological health.”

Bertony turned to focus on the collection of commandos that were seated along the tables, “I would anticipate that they will not be ambulatory, so be prepared to carry them out either by hand or with a stretcher, I’ll leave that to your discretion.” The detective then switched the screen to another profile.

“Additionally, the secondary objective is this woman here. Bianca Furtoli, forty-six years old, with a history as long as a novel. She’s been going by the alias of ‘Salo’, and is a known associate of one Edward Savauge. Savauge, by the way, remains in detention in the high security wing of La Santé Prison, under constant surveillance.”

“Detective?” One of the officers prompted, hand raised. “What’s the priority with Mlle. Furtoli?”

“As much as we all want this to be a bloodless rescue, your rules of engagement remain unchanged: if Salo or any of her companions pose an immediate threat to either of the hostages or your own lives, do not hesitate to neutralise that threat.”

“Understood.”

“Now… where were we…”

* * *

_ Four hours later… _

“Archangel, Flechette making entry to tunnels, will advise once we reach the initial point,” Sabre spoke quietly into his radio as he climbed down the ladder into the long tunnel that lead towards the bunker. Unfortunately, with the design of this bunker, there was only one entrance from the series of feeder tunnels that went to the surface. Other teams of GIGN and National Police RAID officers were ready at those entrances to catch any runners or surge in and back up the entry team, but Sabre and his own team of ten, designated ‘Flechette’, were the only group that were to raid the bunker initially.

_ “Understood Flechette One, Arcangel copies. Be advised; Arclight reports that power is ready to be cut to the target area on your go.” _

“One copies, will give signal when we’re ready. Flechette out,” Sabre keyed off his mic and watched as the remaining nine GIGN commandos settled down into the tunnel. The combination of low light and their dark uniforms and equipment made them near invisible in the darkness. They’d also all swapped out their usual TC500 helmets with the distinguishable visor for lighter and more compact FAST helmets, each equipped with a flashlight mounted on a side rail and a pair of wide field of view night vision goggles. Perfect for what they had planned. “Alright guys, we’ve got fifteen minutes until showtime. Footsteps light, weapons tight, let’s make the bad guys say goodnight.”

With a subdued chuckle at Sabre’s darkly humorous rhyme, the team began their slow and stealthy trek towards the end of the tunnel and to the main entrance of the bunker. Back on the surface, Bertony, Faucon, and a few other senior members of the different agencies involved gathered around the Tactical Operations Centre they had established in the conference room after they had completed their briefing.

Faucon, being the senior most officer of the GIGN, held tactical command and was designated ‘Archangel’. ‘Arclight’ was the name for the DSGI cyber team that had ‘hacked’ into the power grid and now controlled both the proverbial and literal lightswitch to Salo’s bunker. The plan was fairly simple in theory: cut the power to the bunker, then Sabre and his operators would sweep and clear the bunkers by utilising mid-power flashbangs and stun grenades. The combination of the bright flash and the loud bang from the grenades would hopefully disorient the people within the bunker enough for the GIGN to subdue them non-lethally.

_ “Archangel, Flechette One. IP reached, delay breach, we’ve got the sound of movement on the other side of the door.” _

Bertony frowned as he listened in, Faucon sharing the expression and looking back towards the radio, “Understood that you’re holding, Flechette One. Are you able to relay what you hear?”

“Archangel, wait five, out.” Sabre spoke quietly as he signalled for his team to stay still as he lifted one of the protective ear cups of his helmet’s headset away from his ear and pressed the side of his head against the steel door to the bunker, listening in.

Eyes widening behind the lightly tinted goggles, he signalled for his men to crouch down and hide before ducking away himself, the door groaning as it opened slowly to reveal two middle-aged men with guns tucked into their waistbands. With the low light, the GIGN men were invisible in the shadows, but the men were visible to the GIGN thanks to the backlight from within the bunker.

“Man, you have to admit that this is a little low, even for us, right?” One man posed quietly as the second closed the steel door behind him. “They’re only  _ kids _ for christ sake.”

“Hey now, don’t let Salo hear you saying that shit… you know what she does to those who turn face…” the second responded just as quietly.

“Still… I mean-” the first man didn’t get the opportunity to finish as Sabre leaped up from his hiding space and bodily tackled the man down onto the cold concrete path below, a gloved hand reaching around to cover the man’s mouth and stop him from screaming and giving away their position. Another specialist, known to the team as Poignard, did much the same with the man’s companion, slamming him into the wall and pinning him against it with enough force to knock the man out cold.

“Do  _ not _ fucking move, you hear me?” Sabre whispered angrily into his captive’s ear, “If you so much as squirm, I will not hesitate to end you. Nod once if you understand.”

Sabre received a small nod, and he quickly rolled the man over onto his back and pressed a knee firmly into the middle of his chest. In the same movement, he slung his MP7A1 to his side and withdrew his suppressed Glock from his holster, aiming it directly at the man’s face. “Good boy. Now, I’m going to let you have your hands, and you’re going to use them to help answer me. If it’s a yes or no answer, use your head. If it’s a number or direction, use your hands. Understood?”

_ Nod of yes. _

“Good. How many of you are in there, not counting the boy or girl?”

_ Six fingers. _

“Including you and your friend?”

_ Head shake of no. _

“So eight then?”

_ Nod of yes. _

“Are all of you armed?”

_ Nod of yes. _

“With what?”

_ Hands imitate a handgun. _

“Only pistols?”

_ Nod of yes. _

“Are the boy and girl together or seperate?”

_ Hands indicate two seperate places. _

“Are they alive?”

_Shrug with a head tilt._

Sabre frowned and leant closer, pressing the suppressor into the man’s forehead. “What do you mean you don’t know? Explain, but quietly…”

The man’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly like a gaping fish, before he started stammering quietly, “W-w-we put them int-to separate rooms, been in th-there for about a w-w-week now? I haven’t-t seen them s-s-since!”

Sabre sighed, shaking his head. “You better fucking hope for your sake that they are alive, otherwise you’ll be facing a very long stint in prison… where in the bunker are they being kept?”

“One of t-t-the store rooms… you can’t m-miss it.”

“Good… thank you… Saint? Over here please.”

One of the specialists approached Sabre, and the team leader reached up and peeled off a piece of black duct tape that had been stuck on the other specialist’s helmet prior to the mission, using the piece of tape to cover up their prisoner’s mouth. “Nothing personal but I can’t have you spoiling our surprise.” Sabre then took a cable tie from the side of his vest and flipped the man around, restraining the man’s arms behind his back and leaving him face down on the ground. “Saint, Panthère, you’re on rear guard. Everyone else, stack up and prepare for entry.”

As the remaining seven members of his team lined up on either side of the door, Sabre stepped away to quickly radio back to the TOC. “Flechette One to Archangel, message over.”

_ “Go for Archangel.” _

“Flechette has two tangos neutralised and in custody, one has provided us solid intel as to current disposition and locations of the primary objective. Ready for Arclight to kill the lights.”

_ “Archangel copies all, Flechette One. Arclight reports power cut in fifteen seconds. Good luck and godspeed.” _

“Flechette copies, out.” Sabre jogged over to the rear of the left stack, and flicked down his NVGs. “Ten seconds ‘till lights out.” Everyone else in the stacks flicked down their own goggles, the pointman on the right-side stack reaching for the latch that opened the door. Behind him, the next commando in line held a primed multi-bang grenade; the device designed to emit a loud series of bangs and flashes in rapid succession.

Every man in the team counted the seconds down in their head, waiting for the final signal to rush inside.

The count hit zero, and from within the bunker the team could make out the sounds of frustration about the loss of power.

* * *

Marinette barely reacted when the light shining through the crack of the door in her small closet-turned-cell went out without any warning. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, as either Salo or one of her henchmen would often leave it on or off for random amounts of time throughout the day and night, likely a ploy to disorient her further.

Though, oddly enough, the room sounded quieter than normal. Unlike normal, there was no dull humming sound that she’d quickly become attuned to hearing after the first few days of her isolation. Occasionally she’d hear the dull thuds from what she thought might’ve been Adrien in his own cell, though she couldn’t be sure. It had to be a distance away, given how quiet they were, that or it was something else entirely.

No… the sudden lack of light and any of the usual ambient noise sent a worried shiver down her spine. Lifting herself up on weakened legs, she pressed her ear to the solid steel door and strained her hearing to try and listen in.

“... the generator? Pierre remembered to get fuel for it this time, right?”

“How the fuck should I know? If Salo hadn’t sent him off on that food errand, then he’d be here to ask. I don’t get why we’re even here in this place?”

“Because nobody else knows that this place exists, and those that do wouldn’t even think to look here because of how old and out of reach it is.”

“That and Salo probably just craves the aesthetic of it… seriously, how much more cliche could you g-”

Marinette flew back away from the door as a series of loud explosions detonated what had to have been merely down the hallway from her cell. Even with her ears covered and through the thick walls of the room, the noise was almost deafening in the confined space with how it echoed.

As suddenly as it erupted, the noise stopped, replaced by loud footfalls and equally as loud shouts.

“HANDS! LET US SEE YOUR HANDS!”

“ON THE GROUND! GET ON THE GROUND!”

“TWO DETAINED, MOVING!”

“BANGER OUT!”

Another set of explosions sang out, a little further away but still just as loud as earlier, and Marinette had to squeeze her hands onto her ears to block out the noise as much as possible. Maybe this was it? Marinette sat herself down and curled up into a ball in a corner of the room, resigning herself and waiting for this to finally end.

* * *

Adrien wasn’t fairing much better, though his heart was racing more out of hope than fear. He’d thrown himself to the floor of his cell as the first explosives rang out, fearing that Salo had decided to just end it all and blow everyone in their own little hell to kingdom come. But once it subsided and the shouts became audible, Adrien realised that Salo had  _ not _ blown everyone up, but that the explosions and subsequent shouting could mean only one thing.

Adrien, despite his upbringing, had played a fair amount of different video games of the shooter variety, and watched many an action movie to recognise just what was happening.

They were being rescued.

With renewed vigor Adrien clambered to his feet and stumbled over towards the heavy steel door of his cell and began banging on it and shouting out with as much force and volume as he could muster. Unfortunately for him, his voice was barely louder than a whisper, 

“In here! Please! Over here!”

He kept on pounding even as another set of explosions sounded out on the other side, and the sound of boots stampeding down the hallway grew louder and louder until they stopped just short of his door.

Adrien scrambled back from the door as the latch released with a loud clank of metal, and raised his hands above his head. Tears flooded his eyes and ran down his cheeks as the door slowly swung open and revealed a pair of men dressed in dark uniforms with weapons aimed directly at him, flashlights shining right in his face. “Hands! Keep them up! Are you Adrien Agreste?”

“Y-yeah,” he responded, voice hoarse from the mixture of shouting and sheer relief flooding his system, “That’s m-me…”

“Birthday?”

“W-what?” Adrien stuttered out, confused by the random question.

“Date of birth! When is it?”

“Eighth of September.”

“Mother’s maiden name?”

“Uh… Graham de Vanily.”

“Good, last question: name of your first pet?”

“I-I don’t have a pet.” The questions confused Adrien, especially with how they were being almost shouted at him by the armed man in front of him.

“Alright,” one of the men said, lowering his weapon and stepping forward into the cell to approach Adrien, a hand on a radio on his chest, “Flechette Six to Flechette One and Archangel, objective One-Alpha located and secure, status to follow.” Letting go of his radio, he extended an arm out to steady Adrien as he stood, “We’ll get you out in a moment, but the rest of my team are just clearing the bunker to make sure we have everyone else.”

Adrien all but collapsed into the specialist’s arms, the relief flooding out of his body and sending him crashing into the ground. If it weren’t for the quick thinking of the commando, Adrien would’ve ended up sprawled on the cold concrete ground. “Hey, kid! Shit… One, this is Six, I need Gardien on my position.”

* * *

Salo took a deep breath and adjusted her grip on her pistol, hiding around a wall towards the back of the bunker. The second the first explosions rang out, she knew that the game was up. In her head, she tried to go through where she might have slipped up and gave up their position. Despite her memory though, she couldn’t place where everything went wrong.

It didn’t matter though, what happened had happened, and there was no way she was going down without a fight.

“Bianca Furtoli!” A stern voice shouted out from deeper in the bunker. “You are completely surrounded! Come out peacefully!”

“Fuck you!” She screamed back, reaching out around the corner and squeezing the trigger of her pistol a few times, firing a short burst of rounds blindly in the direction of who she presumed were police officers.

“Banger!” Another voice called out, and despite the darkness and residual deafness from the earlier explosive noises, Salo could faintly hear the sound of a metal object landing near her feet in the hallway that lead to her hiding place.

* * *

Sabre watched as Salo stumbled out from where she had taken cover from him and two of his team members. Through the light from their weapon mounted flashlights, Sabre could see the glint of Salo’s pistol in her right hand, held up against her head as she tried to cover her ears after the blast of the flashbang.

_ Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it- _

Salo looked up and dropped the hand holding the weapon from her head and pointed it towards Sabre without any hesitation.

_ Goddamn it… _

Salo’s body crumpled to the ground, her weapon sliding from her hand and sliding a short distance away. The shells ejected from Sabre’s MP7A1 clinked against the concrete ground at his feet, Sabre taking a deep breath as he processed what had just happened. Moving on autopilot, he stepped forward slowly until he was standing right above the body, and kicked away the weapon outside of Salo’s reach.

“Archangel, Flechette One; shots fired. Objective two secured, KIA.”

_ “Flechette One, Archangel copies last. Continue clearing the target area. One-Alpha has been located, One-Bravo remains unaccounted for.” _

“One, understood. Continuing search, out.” Sabre shook his head to clear his thoughts and stepped back away from the body. “Rapier, secure the body and search her for any intelligence. Phones, keys, anything we can use.”

“Got it boss.” One of his commandos nodded and quickly went to work.

“Faucheuse, with me. We’ve still got to find Marinette.”

* * *

The shouting throughout the bunker had subsided after the short exchange of what had to be gunfire, and the unsteady silence had sent Marinette’s already frayed nerves into a downward spiral. Earlier, she thought she had heard Adrien’s screaming amongst the mixture of voices, as well as seen the occasional flicker of light through the crack in the steel door’s viewing slot.

The only reason she hadn’t stood up to peek through it was both her severe lack of physical strength and due to how short she was relative to the slot in the door.

The sound of boots approaching her cell’s hallway grew louder, and as she focused, she could now hear the sound of voices muffled through the door.

“Marinette! Call out if you can hear us! We’re here to take you home!”

The mention of home and the realisation that this was a  _ rescue _ team and not something more nefarious was enough to send the last surge of adrenaline through her body, and she crawled from her corner of the room and made her way towards the door. She drew a deep but shaky breath and tried to call out, but her voice was hoarse.

“Over… here!”

At first she felt that they hadn't heard her, but after a few moments of waiting, a beam of light shone through the viewport. “Hello? Anyone in here?” The question was punctuated by a steady set of strong knocks on the door.

With the last amount of strength she could muster, Marinette crawled to the door and threw her entire body weight against it, creating a dull but clearly audible ‘thud’ in the room. She slid down and rolled away, mindful not to get in the way in case it opened up. Sure enough, the door cracked open to reveal a flood of light from a pair of men in the entrance, flashlights on both their helmets and their weapons illuminating the entire room and Marinette. She feebly lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding light.

“Marinette? Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” One of the men asked as he stepped closer, tucking his weapon by the side.

“Yeah?” She croaked hoarsely, squinting past the light.

“Good… I need you to answer me a couple quick questions, okay?”

“Okay?”

“Right… when is your birthday?” The man asked, gently assisting her to sit up as he detached his light from his helmet and shone it across her eyes.

“N-ninth of July.”

“Okay, and where do you go to school?”

“Françoise Dupont High School.”

“Good, just one more question, okay?”

“Okay.” Marinette said, trying her best to focus as she felt her adrenaline high start to crash.

“What are your parents names?”

“Tom Dupain and… Sabine Cheng.”

“Good, that’s great Marinette,” the man set, patting her on the shoulder reassuringly as he reattached his light to the helmet and turned it off. He reached for his radio and spoke into the microphone of his headset. “Flechette One to Archangel. One-Bravo secured, identity confirmed. Status is alive and coherent, but have medical on standby at the exit.”

Marinette watched as he listened for a response, and her eyes flickered over to the second man who was still standing by the doorway. “W-who are you guys?”

The man turned to look at her and nodded, “We’re your heroes today, Ladybug.” She blushed despite herself, averting her eyes as the man in front of her refocused on her.

“Okay, Marinette. We’re going to wait here for a moment for the lights to turn back on. Do you think you can walk?” Marinette nodded. “Okay, you can lean against me if you need the support. And before you ask, we’ve also located Adrien and he’s doing okay. Exhausted, much like you would be, but okay.”

A wave of relief crashed over Marinette, and she couldn’t stop the sob that escaped her. She leant forward and wrapped her arms around the commando that sat in front of her, and the man returned the hug with gentle arms. Above them, the lights slowly flickered back to life, bathing the room and the rest of the bunker in light.

“Alright. It’s time to get you out of here. Up on three when you’re ready, okay?”

Marinette nodded against his collar, slowly letting off of his body and shifting to have her legs underneath her as her hands gripped the man’s forearms, “One,” she began counting out softly, her gaze focused on her legs, “two… three.”

Together, they stood up, and Marinette took a few moments to steady herself against the man’s arms, noticing that she came up to just below his shoulders. He looked down to her, his eyes barely visible behind his protective goggles. “You aren’t feeling dizzy or anything?”

“No… just really tired,” she admitted with a frown as she took a few calming breaths.

“Good. If you do, or if you need to stop and take a break, just let me know. We do have quite a walk ahead of us.” The man said, looking over to his partner. “Let’s get you out of here now.”

Together, Marinette and the commando slowly walked out of the small room and through the short hallway that lead into the main space of the bunker. Marinette averted her eyes and kept them fixed to the ground, more out of wanting to avoid looking around and remembering what had happened when they had first arrived.

“Mari?!” A hoarse shout from ahead of her made her head and eyes snap up, and she all but launched forward to the seated form of Adrien, barely ten meters in front of her. “Oh my god… Mari…” She all but collapsed onto her knees in front of him and wrapped her thin arms around his shoulders, and he returned the desperate hug as tight as his weakened arms would allow.

“I thought they killed you…” she whispered into his ear, tears running down her face as she tucked herself into him.

“I thought I lost you too…” Adrien whispered back, tears of his own forming and threatening to break free. “We’re free, Mari… we’re free.”

“Gardien?” The man that had been walking with Marinette spoke up, addressing the commando that had been knelt by Adrien’s side with what looked like a first aid kit opened between them. Marinette’s eyes flicked between them, then caught sight of the small subdued red cross patch that was attached to the second man’s shoulder, below a white circle patch that read ‘GIGN’. 

“Besides the obvious injuries, I’m concerned that he’s malnourished and dehydrated,” the medic reported, looking back over to the pair of teenagers as they clung to each other. “Mademoiselle, would you mind if I gave you a quick check?”

Marinette looked at the medic with clear hesitance in her eyes, but Adrien gave her a reassuring squeeze, “Mari… they’re the good guys. Trust me.”

She blinked rapidly, shaking her head a little to refocus before she silently nodded and carefully extracted herself, albeit reluctantly, from Adrien’s comforting embrace and sat down between him and the medic. Adrien’s attention alternated between her and her checkup and the rest of the men that were moving around the space.

“So… who exactly are you guys?” Adrien posed to the man that had walked in Marinette earlier, presuming him to be their leader.

“National Gendarmerie, specifically the Intervention Group,” the man answered, “though we’re better known as the GIGN. You can call me Sabre, and the paramedic beside you is Gardien.”

“I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but…” Adrien trailed off with an empty chuckle, the meaning not lost on the others in the room.

“At least his sense of humour is still in tact,” Gardien remarked as she detached a blood pressure cuff from Marinette’s arm.

“Where’s Salo?” Adrien asked, making Marinette turn to look at him and both Gardien and Sabre stop in their tracks. “Did you catch her?”

At that moment, two more commandos emerged from another hallway, a stretcher bearing a black body bag atop it. Nobody exchanged a word as it was carried out, Adrien’s question going answered. Feeling a little anxious, Adrien reached for his ring finger to rub his ring-

“Our Miraculous!” He said, looking down at his bare hand. His shout surprised the other commandos that were present as well as Marinette, who quickly sat up and looked at Sabre with a stricken expression.

“Did you see a safe anywhere?” She asked, eyes searching all around the room as Gardien tried to get her to calm down.

Sabre looked around as well, then keyed up his mic, “One to all Flechette; did anyone come across a safe during SSE?”

_ “Panthère to Sabre, I found a small safe in this office. It’s locked, basic combination lock.” _

Sabre turned back to look at the teens, “Copy that. Saint, Talon, Condor; start questioning our detainees for the combination. I’ll check the body.”

Adrien watched as Sabre walked over to where the stretcher was put down. Careful to use his body to block the view, he unzipped the bag enough to search the pockets of Salo’s clothing, coming across a small slip of paper in her rear pocket. “Hey, get this to Talon.” He called out to another man, handing the slip over to him.

The commando disappeared, and after a few moments returned with familiar set of jewelry in his hand. He knelt down in front of the two teens and returned the earrings and ring to their rightful owners, who quickly put them back on.

With a small flash of light, their kwami’s appeared in mid-air and made a beeline to embrace their respective chosen.

“Marinette!” Tikki shouted tearfully as she launched into the girl’s cheek.

“Kid!” Plagg cried out, burying himself in Adrien’s shortened hair, “Oh kid, you need a shower so bad, you smell like blue cheese!”

“Plagg!” Tikki began to chastise, but stopped as both she and Marinette heard Adrien start to laugh.

“Hey, good to know that he’s got his priorities right,” Adrien said with a breathless chuckle, stealing a glance at Marinette and her Kwami before looking back at Plagg, “Love you too buddy.”

“As much as I hate to cut this reunion short,” Sabre interrupted, walking up and taking a knee before the pair of teens, “I think it’s time that we get moving and back to the surface.”

Marinette and Adrien shared a look with each, then looked back at the commando team leader. Marinette spoke first, “Y-yeah… the sooner we get out of here the better.”

Gardien packed away his first aid kid and slung it back over his shoulders, then offered a hand to assist Marinette to her feet, Sabre doing the same with Adrien. The pair stood up and each rested an arm around each other, supporting each other mutually.

“Flechette One to Archangel,” Sabre keyed up as he led the two teens around the bunker to the exit, the rest of his team gathering their prisoners, the gathered intelligence, and Salo’s body, before moving out behind them, “all objectives secured, site secure, we’re moving to exfiltration now. Have medical meet us topside.”

_ “Good work, Flechette One. EMS are already on site. Be advised, the media have caught wind of this operation and are also waiting outside. Uniformed patrols have them behind the cordon, but I figured it’d be wise to warn you.” _

Sabre chuckled, looking over his shoulder at Marinette and Adrien. “Copy that Archangel. Thanks for the heads up, Flechette out.”

* * *

_ “...coming to you live now from south of the Gare de l'Est train station. Reports are coming in that what was initially announced as a routine training exercise for the elite Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence brigade of the National Police a week earlier by the Ministry of the Interior is actually in fact an attempt to rescue and/or recover both Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, better known to us as Paris’ own superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir. It has been over a month now since...” _

Alya, Nino, Chloe, and all of their class sat and watched with bated breath as Nadja Chamack caught viewers up to speed on the history of their friend’s disappearance and subsequent broadcast torture. Both Alya and Nino had hoped that it would not take  _ this _ long for there to be a development in the search, but as time passed their hopes had slowly dwindled. The detective in charge of the case had been very tight lipped with any updates, to both them and Adrien and Marinette’s parents.

Now, the teens watched on as Nadja went on with her report, pointing out the black armoured vans, SUVs, and ambulances parked near a service tunnel entrance. Not far away, groups of patrol officers stood nearby and ushered people away from getting too close.

“I hope they’re okay,” Chloe whispered softly, uncharacteristically quiet.

“I hope they’re found them,” Alya chimed in, leaning against Nino for support, “and that this isn’t a false lead.”

_ “... Edward Savauge, who was imprisoned and remains on remand for charges on… wait, we’re seeing movement at the tunnel entrance.” _

The class took a collective breath as the camera zoomed in on the visible entrance in the footpath, thankfully not blocked from view by the police. The steel door swung open, and a man dressed in dark uniform and wearing armour climbed out and stood up and out onto the path. He turned around and dropped down to a knee, leaning over and reaching down to pick something up.

Everyone in the classroom started cheering and yelling in jubilation as the beaten, bruised, but still alive and  _ smiling _ Marinette was lifted into view and into the arms of waiting paramedics, with Adrien not far behind her.

_ “It looks like our reports were true indeed! Ladybug and Chat Noir are alive and have been rescued!” _ Nadja’s excitement and relief was evident in her voice, as was the cheering from the gathered crowd of press and spectators that had gathered.

Alya cried as she hugged Nino tightly, a month and a half of tension, stress, and worry now flooding out of her in one big flood of relief. Nino wasn’t fairing much better, tears of his own threatening to spill out as he held onto Alya while the rest of the class embraced and celebrated.

_ “We still don’t have any further information regarding the details of the rescue, but we can only expect a statement from Interior Minister Arthur Vanderguard later today. From Gare de l'Est station, this has been Nadja Chamack for TVi.” _

* * *

_ Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, central Paris. _

_ Later that evening... _

Marinette shifted in her bed, trying to find a comfortable position to lay down in that wouldn’t drive her completely insane. She snuck a glance at her partner who was asleep beside her in his own bed.

Gabriel had insisted that the two heroes have their own shared private ward, ensuring that they rested and recovered together without the hassle of reporters and members of the media trying to interview them. Additionally, two police officers stood guard outside the door, acting as a visible deterrent to anyone trying to harass the pair.

She felt an interesting mix of emotions as she studied Adrien’s sleeping form. She was concerned and worried for his physical wellbeing, as the doctors had diagnosed and treated him for his dislocated shoulder and a few cracked ribs, while also giving them both a course of antibiotics as a precaution against infection for their tattoos and brands, and for Adrien’s removed piercings.

But she was also just a little bit envious of him, as he appeared to be sleeping fairly soundly. Granted, the mixture of fatigue and painkillers was responsible for effectively knocking her partner out once they arrived to the ER for assessment and treatment.

They’d been admitted for about seven hours not, and every time that Marinette attempted to get some shuteye, she found herself right back in the bunker, freshly battered and bruised, staring at Adrien’s recently deceased body. The nightmares always began that way whenever she drifted into sleep, making the task of getting some kind of rest almost impossible.

At this point, Marinette had half a mind to ask the doctors to give her something to help her sleep, the threat of nightmares now outweighed by the desire to just sleep until the end of days.

“I’m surprised you’re awake,” A voice snapped Marinette out from her introspection and she looked up to see an unfamiliar man at the doorway to their room. “Sorry, I just wanted to introduce myself before we part ways.”

“Oh, right,” Marinette responded, weary of the stranger.

“I’m Detective Joseph Bertony, lead investigator with EUROPOL for your kidnapping and rescue,” he walked over and pulled up a nearby chair, taking a seat beside Marinette’s bed, “it’s a huge pleasure to finally meet you in person, alive and mostly well.”

“Likewise, and thank you. Thank you so much for finding us,” she looked over to Adrien’s still sleeping form, “I was starting to wonder if we’d ever get out of there or if…”

Bertony reached out and rested his hand comfortingly atop Marinette’s, “The team we assembled to find both of you barely rested more than a couple of hours at a time while working on the case, myself included. There was no chance that we’d ever entertain the thought of giving up on you two.”

“I don’t doubt that at all,” Marinette remarked with a tired chuckle.

“Anyway, I just wanted to offer some wisdom for you, well, it’s part wisdom and part advice. This isn’t first kidnapping case I’ve worked, and I just wanted to say that you shouldn’t try to force yourself to get back to normal. As bad as it is to hear, there’s no real way to get back to normal after what you and Adrien have experienced.

“You need to find your new normal; don’t let your experience hold you back from opportunities that may open up in your future, but also don’t let it define you as a person. Also, do not be afraid to ask for help if things get overwhelming. It’s scary to think and adjust, but you’ll likely experience some form of post traumatic stress. That’s normal; truth be told, I’d be more concerned if you didn’t.

“Be sure to talk to someone when you need to,” the detective continued, “about anything and everything. I speak from experience, first and secondhand, that holding it in and putting up a strong front will only do harm in the long run. Adrien, your parents, your friends; they’ll all be there to help and support you, but only if you let them.”

Marinette nodded, wrapt by the passionate undertone in the detective’s voice. “I’m telling you this because I don’t want to see this situation ruin your lives. You have so much ahead of you to look forward to.”

“Thank you,” she said, after the detective finished his little speech, “I can’t deny that I’m still processing everything, and I’m really struggling to come to grips with some stuff that happened.” Marinette sighed and rubbed her face, leaning back against the pillows behind her back. She did sit back up after a moment as a thought occurred to her. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Anything at all, though I can’t guarantee that I’ll have an answer,” Bertony chuckled.

“Did EUROPOL have any idea of… well…”

“Of Ladybug and Chat Noir?” Bertony smirked, chuckling at Marinette’s bashful expression. “Well, it’s kind of hard to ignore when two masked superheroes start brawling it out with huge mystical beings driven by someone’s emotions. And truth be told, we had started plans to raise a new division to begin investigations, but once we realised the sheer scope of everything, and that there was really no way to track or monitor the aftereffects of an ‘akuma attack’? Well, EUROPOL decided to leave it to the resident experts to handle.”

He frowned when he noticed Marinette’s slightly put-out reaction to his answer, so he quickly added, “Not to say that we wouldn’t have helped in any case, it’s just that we don’t know  _ how _ to help. Organised crime, counter-proliferation, trafficking, smuggling, all those things we can handle and handle well. Magical monsters and a pair of teenagers that can combat them and that have what amounts to an ‘instant reset button’? Just a little bit out of our expertise…”

“When you put it like that…” Marinette said, cut off by a yawn.

“I’ll say this: at least we know who to go to if we ever do figure out how to help. Plus, and I know this sounds daunting too, but with the city aware, I think you’ll find that people will be much more willing to help than ever before.”

“I do hope so,” she said quietly, “I really hope so.”

“I’ll let you go now,” Bertony said, standing from his seat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card, setting it on the small table beside Marinette’s bed, “In case you have any more questions, or just need someone to talk to, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you, again.”

“No, thank you, Marinette. I wish you the best.”


End file.
